A laser therapeutic apparatus has been developed and put to practical use for treating persons suffering from stiff shoulders, neuralgia, arthritis, and the like, by irradiating each affected body part or treatment spot with a laser beam. A conventional laser therapeutic apparatus of this sort usually comprises a probe from which a laser beam is irradiated and a control box including a power supply switch, an output knob for regulating the intensity of the laser beam, and a timer for setting irradiation time. The irradiation probe is connected to the control box by a cord. Accordingly, after the laser beam is set in a suitable irradiation mode by the control box, the affected body part is irradiated by the irradiation probe to treat the ailment.
The conventional laser therapeutic apparatus is equipped with one irradiation probe. From a clinical standpoint, however, there are very often many affected parts or affected spots for applying treatment. Since the conventional laser therapeutic apparatus is designed to irradiate only one location at a time, it frequently takes a very long time to treat a patient. This lowers the efficiency of the treatment, and is further disadvantageous in that the treatment time required of the doctors is increased. Not only has such treatment been costly, it has caused patients to suffer pain and discomfort unnecessarily during the lengthy medical treatment.